Imagine yourself coming confidently into God’s presence. You spend some relaxed time in thanking Him for how He’s working in your life. You then lay out some things that you’re concerned about. World conditions. The economy. Some personal concerns. Needs of your loved ones. And then you get up to go about your daily business, KNOWING that He has seriously listened to you, and is ALREADY working on the EXACT things you talked with Him about. Throughout the day, you have this sense of well-being. You have an inner knowing that things are all going just exactly as they should.

After all, you talked with God by faith, and He GUARANTEED that you will receive the things that you asked Him about. You feel, well…GOOD! You know that it’s not because you’re better than other people, but because you’ve been releasing the will of God in the earth! You’re finally enjoying the plump, juicy, sweet, fruit of your faith!

You may as well put on your dancing shoes. Never again are you going to have to come into the presence of God feeling unworthy, dirty or crummy. You’re going to be able to come into God’s presence EVERY time, with a KNOWING that He’s welcoming you, and not counting your sins against you because He’s released you from them.

How do you enter into this kind of life? Well, good fruit comes forth from your faith when you add four things to your life: Prayer, the Word, words of faith, and actions in faith. When we combine these with knowledge and understanding, we begin to enforce Jesus’ victory over fear, Satan and sin.

Through prayer, we activate or energize the Word of God in our lives. That’s what gives us real faith; the God kind of faith – the kind of faith that gets what it’s looking for when it comes to God.

Through actions of faith, or acting on what the Word says, we set on what the Word says, we set into motion the power of God on our behalf. It’s ACTING in faith that gets God really moving in our lives.

In Jeremiah 1:12, God says “I watch over my word to perform it.” When we come to God based on the Word of God, He always hears us. It’s because the Word of God brings faith. And, the Word of God is the WILL of God. So, when we pray the WORD of God, we can have FAITH that we’re praying the WILL of God.

Some believers never have the Word working for them because they never have the KNOWLEDGE or understanding of the Word. So they can’t act on it. They never know they can make a demand on their Source or supply.

They don’t even know that GOD is their Source. They keep thinking that the things they need come from earthly, instead of heavenly sources. They think their money comes from their job. They never realize that above their job is GOD, who makes sure that money comes INTO their place of work in the first place. Without God, their job would dry up!

Through prayer and the Word of God you exercise your spiritual rights and privileges in the kingdom of God…and He’s glorified by the good fruits, Heaven’s fruits, and that begin to come forth in your life.

Did you know that God has a special interest in blotting out our sins? Traditional religion teaches that God’s looking for and writing down all your sins. But, GOD says He takes a special interest in BLOTTING out your sins.

See, God has a job for you to do on earth as a believer. When Jesus died for you, he also SENT you into the world to represent Him in the earth. He said, “As the Father sent me so send I you.”

He WANTS you to be able to be free of guilt, sin and condemnation so that you will be able to walk in the power and anointing that’s yours in Christ Jesus. It’s the only way you’ll have victory over the enemy and over your flesh.

God says that HIS choice is to not remember your sins. He doesn’t WANT to remember them. No, He wants to break the devil’s back off of you and get you there walking in the Spirit and taking back the things that the devil has been stealing from you and your loved ones.

We’re going to spend a little time in the section of the Bible that teaches what I’ve just shared with you. Then, we’re going to go on to the place where God asks us to REMIND Him of some things!

He’s VERY clear and specific that He wants us to remind Him of some things…and if we DO, that He’ll listen to us and JUSTIFY us.

You’ll enjoy learning how to plead your case, based on the Word, logically and legally with God – so that God will take notice of you and your situation and set into motion the answers to your prayers, pronto! (Abraham used this same procedure and his loved ones’ lives we spared!)

WHY DOES GOD WANT US TO DO THIS? Matthew 12:34 says that the mouth speaks out of the fullness of the heart. God WANTS us to have HIS WORD in our hearts, His interests at heart, and KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING of His ways.

It’s what brings out right words, right motives, and right actions. The fruits of our faith! God’s wanting us to join forces with Him…to be able to use His authority in the earth, on His behalf.

God wants us to be able to know how to spiritually enforce the superiority of His kingdom and power over the influences of this world. Prayer activates His Word and empowers you as His vessel.

He wants us to come to Him with KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING of how things really are. To present Him with His Word, discerning right and wrong, saying “THIS IS THE WAY IT IS.”, to remind Him of His Word, so that He will bring it to pass on our behalf as His agents in this world.

God wants us to be able to operate in the Word so that we won’t be ruled by fear, anger and worry.

Instead, He says Come to HIM with your wants and needs. We go to God with what we have need of. We submit our needs to the Father, based on what Jesus has purchased for us and given us the rights do.

If I can be straight with you, let me put it this way: If you DON’T stand up for your rights in Jesus Christ, for your salvation, for your healing, for your deliverance, you’ll be knocked down and robbed, again and again.

It’s like if you go in the store and the clerk finds out that when you’re charged more than the marked price, you won’t say anything about it. If you don’t stand up for your rights and go to the manager, that clerk is going to keep overcharging you!

In the same way that releasing your faith brings good things into your life, and enables you to deal with the situations in your life, releasing unbelief, doubt, worry and anger attracts BAD things to you and squanders your abilities. Your situation will begin to overwhelm you – That problem will attach itself to you and keep you from seeing the solution.

-You’ve been given Jesus’ Name and through that Name, you and I are able to live out Jesus’ victory here on earth.

-As believers, you and I have been commissioned and given authority to bring deliverance, help and salvation on the earth. The Apostle Paul said that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, bringing healing, blessing and God’s power to the earth.

-You say, “Steve, can I ask for what I want?” Here’s something else we’re going to explore a little: If Jesus is where your life is and HE is living His life in YOU, then the things that you want are the kinds of things that He wants to give you.

When Jesus asked this question, He wasn’t talking about the level of sodium in His food or the amount of spices and condiments that He enjoyed. No, He was talking about life and the effect that it can have on people. Specifically, how we can start out full of dreams, hope, ideals and the desire to be all that God created us to be, and then somehow lose our way. He had been saying that WE are the salt of the earth. As people who are walking with Jesus, we have a specific function to fulfill in the Kingdom of God. There are people who NEED for us to be available to the Holy Spirit, so they can be reached and helped. We, of all people need to be full of the Holy Spirit and open to His leading and promptings. ONLY as we’re being sensitive to Him.

Here’s what Jesus was talking about: When He was talking about salt, He was talking about US and our impact on other people. He’s saying that WE are the seasoning and the preservative as Believers, our job is to protect other people from that which is “tasteless”, no good and fit to be thrown away.

The point He was making. You and I DO make an impact on each person who is involved with us. By our speaking, acting, responding and other behavior, we let them know what we REALLY believe and how we really feel. They pick up on our sense of values just by being around us.

We can’t CHANGE anybody else, but we DEFINITELY influence EVERYONE else we are involved with. The word, “influence” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word that means to “inflow” or flow into. So, when we speak, act and respond to other people, what we’re doing “inflows” (through their senses) and literally influences them, even if it’s only to a small degree.

Being the Salt. When other people sense that we value our relationship with our Savior, it makes an impact on them. When they discover that we want to please Him and maintain our relationship with Him, no matter what it makes an impact on them. When they find out that we’re not willing to please THEM if it means displeasing Jesus, they sit up and take notice.

When it’s obvious that we’re happy, at peace and content, people take note. When we are easy to get along with, compassionate and give other people the benefit of the doubt, people can tell that something good is going on inside of us. These are ways that illustrate being the salt of the earth.

When we’re being salty enough, the other people in our lives get thirsty. They realize that we’re drinking water from a different well than they are and they want to start drinking that living water.

You can lose your flavor. In the same way that you can, and do, influence other people by your lifestyle, other people can influence YOU. That’s why it’s important to NOT hang around with people who are a negative influence (a “bad inflowing”).

There really ARE some people who bring out the worst in you. People whom you end up saying things you would NEVER say on your own. People who seem to be able to push your buttons to get you to do things that you KNOW are wrong.

We can’t change other people, but we CAN change what we say to them and how much time we spend with them. Face it, if you don’t want to lose the victories that you’ve fought so hard to win, if you don’t want to lose that special walk with the Lord that you’ve worked so hard to develop, you’re going to have to DO something.

To keep our “flavor”, we need to change something. I know, believe me, I KNOW how hard it is to change. You have to get rid of your old excuse list. Stop blaming other people and circumstances.

If you want things to be different, you’ll have to do thing differently. Do things differently for the next 90 days. Commit your way to the Lord, and let Him direct your actions every day. Talk differently. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your mouth.

Another message about the salt. Jesus was telling us something really profound when He talked about the salt. He was saying that what we become on the inside affects what happens to us on the outside. In this life and for eternity.

If the salt loses its flavor, inside change, it loses value and gets tossed out. It doesn’t get to be put in a shaker and set on the dining room table. Where salt ends up, either in the dining room, or put out on the road, melting snow, is determined by the actual makeup of the salt itself.

“Where you are and what you have at the present moment, you’ve attracted by the kind of person you’ve become.” That’s what Jesus is saying.

If you turn wholeheartedly to follow Jesus, things will change for you. You can’t change your past, but you CAN change what you believe, what you say and what you do. And, if you change, everything else will change for you. You don’t have to change the outside, just change the inside.

Work on your relationship with the Lord and your circumstances will change. If you don’t want to HAVE more, draw closer to Jesus and He’ll help you to BECOME more. If you want things to become easier, draw on His strength and many problems, ask God for wisdom, and He’ll give you the solutions you need.

God has a place for you in life. Why aren’t you there yet? Because there are “walls” that keep you out. You’re saved, blessed, cleansed, forgiven and called of God, but there is still a work that God is doing and things that have to happen before the walls are broken down.

It’s like the Children of Israel when being led by Moses and then by Joshua. God had called Moses to take the Children of Israel into the Promise Land, the land of Cana. That was one of the Covenant blessings of keeping the Ten Commandments.

God had promised that if His children kept His word, He would drive out all their enemies and they would possess that land. But guess what? They didn’t get into that land during Moses’ lifetime. They let doubt and unbelief keep them out.

Well into their journey, Joshua and Caleb, had spied out the Promise Land and said, “We can make it, because our God is with us.” But the people kept saying they couldn’t make it. So, it was the peoples’ doubt and unbelief that kept them out.

Instead of entering into what God had provided for them, they spent their lives wandering around in the wilderness because of unbelief.

God has shown me that many of His people are spending their lives wandering in the wilderness, missing out on what God has prepared for them, because of unbelief. Good people, Christian people who really want to serve God, are missing God’s plan for their lives because they’ve gotten in the palace where they can’t believe God could bless them anymore.

After Moses died, God raised up Joshua to lead His people into the land of Promise. He brought them to the city of Jericho. The word, “Jericho” means “fragrant, or sweet-smelling aroma”. Jericho represents that sweet place in life for you, or the good thing that God has prepared for you.

In Joshua 6:2, “the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.” God HAS given you that desire He has put in your heart, but you HAVE to look beyond the walls and the forces that are trying to keep you out.

God KNOWS there are walls that separate you from your Jericho, from your place of good things coming in your life. Hebrews 9:11 says that Jesus Christ has become the “High Priest of Good Things to come.”

God has given you that calling, that gift, that desire, and you have to keep your eyes off the walls and on God, on Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of your faith. And, those walls, if you’re going to enter in, have to be torn down by acting and speaking in faith! That’s the lesson here.

There are LOTS of walls that keep people from ever entering into their place of Something Good.

A Wall of Sin can keep you out. Many times, God has already prepared that place of good and blessing for you, but the enemy keeps you indulging in some form of sin or another. It might not seem like a big or glaring sin to you, but it is enough that it keeps you weak, and in no condition to pull down the walls.

Another wall that keeps people out is the Wall of Strife. Strife comes when pride arrives on the scene. You feel like you’re not loved enough, listened to enough, and that maybe some other person is receiving the attention, or credit praise that is due to you. So, strife comes. How does it keep you from entering in? Because it causes you to have your faith in the undependability of man rather than the promises of God.

Then, there’s the Wall of Lack. Where you just can’t seem to get ahead enough financially to do or be what God has called you to do. Lack seems to be the one thing that keeps you from entering into God’s place of something good. You’d do what God put in your heart, but there just doesn’t seem to be the resources.

There are also walls of failure, walls of sickness, walls of worry, walls of confusion, walls of misunderstanding: all these keep people from entering into God’s part, then you’ll be my God. Sure, Jacob had believed in God before, but he had never given his HEART to God. And, the minute he gave heart to God, he knew God would bless him, and he also promised to bless God, by giving God ten percent of everything God gave him.

That’s something that gets you started right. When you first come to God, make a vow, make a decision, a commitment, a promise that you’re going to give God ten percent of everything God gives you.

Remember, Jacob was broke when he made his covenant to God. He didn’t have anything. This isn’t for rich people. No, you don’t have to be rich to be a blessing to God. But being a blessing to God can MAKE you rich! And, when you’re rich in God, you don’t keep it all to yourself, you have enough faith to give it, and be a blessing to others!

Jacob’s most important decision was to serve God. Then, he decided he was going to use whatever money God blessed him with to honor and bless God.
By the 32nd chapter, verse 9, it that after many years, he came back. And he had so many cows, camels, sheep, and employees that he spread out over the land. He was a very rich man, and Gold told him to go back to Bethel.

Jacob realized that all his wealth wasn’t the result of his own cleverness, but it came from the blessings of God on his life. He knew that being blessed and prospered was part of God’s eternal mercy.

That’s right, being prospered is a part of God’s mercy! Jacob said, “Oh Lord God…You said for me to return unto my country and to my relatives and You would deal well with me. But, I am not worthy of the least of Your mercies.”

God shows mercy to those who are faithful tithers!

In Genesis 32:10 Jacob says, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shown unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.”

I’m not worthy of the least of your mercies and of all the truth which you have shown unto me. God gives inspired ideas to those who honor Him with their money. You can’t BUY inspired ideas, God GIVES them to the faithful.

That’s what God wants to happen in YOUR life. You may have nothing now. But God wants you to make Him a promise to be faithful with all He gives you.

Jacob based his promise on God taking care of him. He said, “Lord if you will surely be with me, if you’ll take care of me, then I’m going to tithe, I’m going to give You ten percent.

When I think about what God’s done for me, I realize why I owe Him even more than a tenth! I owe Him my very life! But all God asks for is my heart and ten percent of my income. Why? To reach other people, to establish God’s covenant to save the lost. And, to give Him seed to bless me with.

God’s people are the ones whom He’s trusting to finance the spreading of the gospel. Why? Because God doesn’t promise to bless and prosper His people. And if His people love money and lose their vision, they just won’t be prospered, that’s what! It’s weird to steal from God on your way to Heaven, but some people do it!

But, like Jacob, God loves you and wants to fill your heart with the reality of Heaven in your life. When you are broke, unclean, alone and scared. He wants you to know that TODAY can be a day of new beginnings for you.

WHERE JESUS MAKES GOOD THINGS HAPPEN!

The Worship Center® is a happy, lively multi-racial church. Here you can reach your potential and fulfill your purpose in life. We're a group of people working together to make a difference in our world for Jesus Christ. To us, the church is not just a building, but people who need each other, and the transforming power of God. We've got great outreach ministries, kids ministries, teens ministries, adult ministries - every thing you've been looking for!

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The Bible says that the Lord inhabits the praises of His people. Jesus said that wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of them. That means that we can always expect His presence when we get together.
When we gather together here in the name of Jesus, we believe that He is here with us. Wherever He is, He makes good things happen! We want you with us to experience the good things that Jesus wants to make happen in your life!